Move comes just over a week after internal dissent over date

Monday, March 20, 2017

CGT umbrella union sets April 6 date for 24-hour strike

The leadership of the CGT umbrella union has finally set a date for a strike, settling on April 6 after facing plenty of internal dissent at its march last week, when it failed to pick a date.Crucially, the 24-hour strike does not include a mobilisation and would appear to include transport unions. “This labour action will be felt across the country” said Juan Carlos Schmid, one of three CGT secretary-generals. “There’s a generalised feeling of unease in various levels of the coutnry, that the CGT is seeking to interpret.” Héctor Daer, another member of the leading triumvirate, recalled that last week’s massive rally had been intended as a signal for the government and its economic policies. “The government hasn’t taken any notice,” he said. Workers represented by Argentina’s main labour union grouping gathered last week to protest job cuts and pay raises that have not kept up with inflation. The one-day picket, which attracted hundreds of thousands of workers, was the first march by the CGT this year. CGT leaders announced onstage that a 24-hour walk-out would, take place either at the end of March or in early April, but the indecision sparked anger from a sector that was able to disrupt the end of the rally. Scuffles broke out as a group demanded a date be set, prompting the union leaders to hastily head to their cars under a shower of insults. The podium — emblazoned with the CGT acronym — was eventually brought down by the protesters and carried aloft in defiance after a symbolic cross had been taped onto it. The violence, along with accusations from some sectors that the leadership had declined to set a date in deference to the Mauricio Macri government, overshadowed the mobilisation and in the days since, the call to formally set a date for the strike had been rebuffed by the CGT. The CTA umbrella union, which had earlier called for a day of protest on March 30, said yesterday that it would be particpating in the April 6 strike as well. w —Herald staff with Télam